{"id":969,"date":"2017-07-09T14:54:40","date_gmt":"2017-07-09T14:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=969"},"modified":"2017-07-09T14:54:40","modified_gmt":"2017-07-09T14:54:40","slug":"sermon-2nd-july-2017","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-2nd-july-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 2nd July 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n

Sermon for the Third Sunday after Trinity \u2013 evening<\/h1>\n
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Sunday 2nd July 2017<\/h3>\n


\n1 Samuel 28. 3-19
\nLuke 17. 20 \u2013 end
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n

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\"MaureenIf you have come to church seeking words of comfort this evening, I fear you are going to be disappointed if our evening readings are anything to go by!<\/p>\n

It seems a pretty unremitting tale of doom and gloom… I am minded of Private Fraser in Dad\u2019s Army… do you recall the rather parsimonious Scottish undertaker? \u201cDoomed I tell ye \u2013 we\u2019re all doomed!\u201d (with apologies to all the Scots in church this evening!)<\/p>\n

But rather than focus on the despair you may be feeling, let\u2019s turn our attention to a spot of gardening. \u2013 After all, we are now properly in summer (or what passes for it in Britain!)<\/p>\n

I am no great gardener, but even I know that \u2013 if you want your roses and other shrubs to go on flowering through the summer, you have to dead-head them.<\/p>\n

That means recognizing those blossoms which are now effectually dead…. even if a few faded petals remain, and nipping off the dead bits with secateurs or with your fingers (watch out for the thorns!)<\/p>\n

Now, if the rose plant were a human being, you would describe that as cruel and heartless. Fancy cutting off a person\u2019s hope for the future, just because they are a bit past their best; a bit unsightly. But roses don\u2019t feel things in the same way we do \u2013 (at least I hope not!) \u2013 so any reservations we might feel at the way God, through the ghost of Samuel, deals with Saul, need not bother us when we contemplate the roses…<\/p>\n

If you leave the dead remains of the flower on the plant they will try to set seed and form a rose-hip. That may of itself be quite attractive of course, but it will use up a lot of the plant\u2019s energy and restrict it\u2019s growth next year. And nobody grows roses from seeds these days \u2013 it is always from cuttings. So \u2013 unless you are a rose breeder like David Austin, – leaving the useless seed pods still on the rose bush is hindering the growth of next year\u2019s flowers, and next year\u2019s growth. You could say it was cruel Not to dead-head a rosebush.<\/p>\n

Which helps us to understand what we mean by punishment. When somebody does something wrong…. say the Leader of a Council fails to consider the needs of people in the community \u2013 then there is harm caused to themselves and to others. Of course the harm may be mental or spiritual rather than physical, but it is nonetheless destructive.<\/p>\n

Religious people are supposed to be compassionate and forgiving. But if we pay no attention when somebody harms another person \u2013 maybe by refusing to believe the stories of those who claim they have been seriously abused by figures in authority, for example, that too is cruel; because it appears that we don\u2019t care about the harm the bad person has done.<\/p>\n